


Rushed Out (But Still Unspoken)

by SamJoinedtheReconCorps



Series: Water and Fire (and Steam) [5]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: But only a little, Caleb is adorable too, Fjord is adorable tbh, Fluff and Angst, M/M, jealous!Caleb, post Episode 23, the mighty nein - Freeform, unspoken feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:34:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21669061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamJoinedtheReconCorps/pseuds/SamJoinedtheReconCorps
Summary: Back in Berleben, Caleb gets a little jealous even though Fjord only has eyes for him. They head out towards Shadycreek Run and share a few words at the market, reminding them of when they first joined forces - and making them see how far they've come.or, Caleb asks the barkeep if she's interested in Fjord, and then they both promise each other that they'll continue to make their group work
Relationships: Fjord/Caleb Widogast
Series: Water and Fire (and Steam) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1512638
Comments: 2
Kudos: 52





	Rushed Out (But Still Unspoken)

**Author's Note:**

> yoooo so it's been a while T.T but i'm back on my bullshit with these hoes
> 
> I honestly love them so much and going back to write for them felt sooooo good, hopefully I can write more for them soon! Its only a tad angsty, so no worries there, loves.
> 
> As always, while this is part of my series, it can be read as a one-shot as this all still follows canon!
> 
> I really hope you guys like this!

Once they finally get back to Berleben, the Mighty Nein decide to avoid the Keystone Pub, and, after running into Horace, end up giving the Drowned Nest a chance. It's the usual run of the mill inn, nothing nice, nothing fancy, but even just stepping in it's leagues better than the swamp - and the Keystone Pub.

“Oh, good evenin’, folks,” the middle-aged woman manning the counter greets as soon as the group walks in, shutting the book she was reading. “Can I help you?”

They make their way closer to her, and, when no one speaks up, Fjord takes the lead. “Yes, you can. We’re, ah, we’re weary travelers in need of respite and perhaps some drinks.”

She smiles at him. “Well, I can provide both. My name is Uma Cole. Pleasure to meet you,” she introduces, reaching out to shake Fjord’s hand.

“Uma,” Fjord nods respectfully, taking her hand and dropping a kiss to it like a gentleman.

( _ The sight of that makes Caleb swoon a little _ .)

“Oh,” Uma blushes. “Well, um,” she glances over toward the stairwell, “We do have about four rooms available for rent, if y’all are willin’ to stay for the evening. Our selection of liquors and beers are not extremely, um, versatile, but welcome to provide as needed.”

“That sounds absolutely fantastic,” Fjord says honestly.

“Whatever you think we shouldn’t leave town without trying,” Molly adds, leaning against Fjord.

“Very well, ah, that will be five silver per room for the night’s stay,” she tells them.

“We’ll take ‘em all,” Beau chimes in.

“All four rooms - that’ll be two gold pieces, please,” Uma finishes, looking around at the group.

Fjord pulls out the two gold. “I got it.”

Molly raises an amused eyebrow. “You got it? Bless him.”

“Thanks, Fjord,” Jester pipes up.

“No problem,” Fjord shrugs, handing the gold to Uma. He glances over at Jester. “Thanks for, uh, making sure I was okay back there.”

“What a gentleman,” Uma compliments, taking the gold with a smile.

( _ Indeed. _ )

Jester gives Uma a look that just about says,  _ wait til you hear about it, lady. _ “I saved his life, like, multiple times today.”

“Well, good for you,” Uma says earnestly, opening up a small coin purse and dropping the coins inside.

“Thank you,” Jester grins right as Molly says, “I mean to be fair, he’s saved our lives - dozens of times.”

Uma turns to Fjord with an impressed look, letting out a low whistle.

“He’s very dapper,” Beau continues, realizing what Molly was doing just as Caleb realized it too. “He just touches the hearts of all of us. Where would we be without Fjord?”  
“All gone, all dead,” Molly laments. “And he’s a sailor, too.”

“Yeah,” Jester nods, but then she frowns, shooting Beau and Molly a glare and Caleb a small apologetic look. “But I mean he’s not that cool or anything - I mean you probably wouldn’t be interested in him at all!” she exclaims, turning back to Uma.

Uma sits back in her chair. “‘Course not, I’m sorry.”

“Are you interested in him?” Caleb blurts out without meaning to. He sounds stiff and strange - he sounds  _ jealous _ .

“Here’re your keys,” Uma says instead, handing over the four keys and effectively ending that conversation as Caleb stands there mortified that he’d let himself say that.

Caleb doesn’t have much time to beat himself up over it as the group all make their way to a table with drinks, talking about their next plan to head out to Shadycreek Run. Thankfully, no one mentions Caleb’s outburst despite Fjord trying to catch Caleb’s eye multiple times, only for Caleb to duck behind his tankard and keep drinking quietly.

Their planning more or less peters out as everyone starts trying to figure out what book Uma had been reading when they came in, and after she deflected Yasha’s question about the title, the game was on and everyone was trying to figure it out.

Nott was currently trying to sneak the book out from behind the counter as Uma came to refill their drinks, and Fjord was helping keep her distracted.

“Uma, has anyone ever told you that you have eyes like the sea?” Fjord says, trying to be suave and alluring.

Yasha nods. “Yes, uh, Uma, they are like a sky blue.”

“Well,” Uma begins, finishing pouring out the last cup before stoppering the bottle. “I appreciate the flattery, I really do. Have a wonderful night.” She gives a small nod to their table, heading back to the counter and getting back to her spot, eyes on Nott the whole time.

With one final glance, Nott scampers back, plopping down right next to Fjord and giving him a smack on the arm. “Damn it - Fjord, what was that!”

“I don’t know, I -” Fjord begins, looking thoroughly embarrassed. “It just, I -”

“What was that! That’s not how you talk to a woman!” Nott exclaims.

“I’m - I’m not real practiced, I’m sorry -” Fjord continues, getting more flustered by the minute. His eyes flicker over to Caleb, and he gets even more flushed.

“‘Your eyes are like the sea’,” Nott mimics. “We’re in a land-locked part of the place here! She doesn’t even know what that means!”

“I should have said like the swamp, right?” Fjord suggests.

“The swamp -” Nott nods.

Fjord continues, looking encouraged. “Your eyes are like stagnant water, green and -” there are frowns and cringes around the table that stop him. “No?”

“Don’t,” Beau answers, taking another swig from her ale.

“Green and yellow in places? I, uh,” Fjord finishes lamely.

Caleb can’t help but stifle a laugh into his drink. A few more failed attempts to try and get the title of the book from the woman - a trial by Caleb and one by Yasha - and it's about time to head to bed.

“Molly, are we bunking up?” Fjord asks, polishing off his drink and standing from the table.

“I’m finishing this and I’ll be right up,” Molly drawls.

As Fjord starts heading up, he catches Caleb’s eye. He seems amused, and relieved, and Fjord gives him a tiny smile before disappearing up the stairs.

* * *

After about half an hour, Molly finally saunters into their room, a smug expression on his face that Fjord doesn’t want to ask about - especially with how preoccupied in his own thoughts he is.

“Can I confide in you for something?” Fjord asks as he watches Molly begin to get ready for bed.

“Oh yes, please,” Molly grins, pulling out his scimitars and laying them out for his nightly prayers.

“I’m, ah,” Fjord begins, and he feels bad, feels like Caleb should be here too.

(But he doesn’t need that kind of worry weighing him down. Fjord doesn’t want to worry him like that.)

“I’m a little unnerved about this, sword,” Fjord tells Molly. “Would you - would you stay and watch for a second?”

Molly seems to consider it for a beat. “This seems like a bad idea.” He nods. “Sure.”

“Alright,” Fjord breathes, focusing on the falchion and summoning it in his hand.

It appears with a spray of sea water, flecks of it hitting the wall and splashing onto them as well. The yellow eye appears on his pommel, the stone that he had jammed into his stomach after the fight with the merrow. They both watch it with bated breath, Molly leaning forward with curious scrutiny, the only sound in the room being the steady drip-drip-drip of seawater against the wooden floorboards.

“What happened to you on that boat?” Molly finally asks, breaking the silence.

“Uh,” Fjord starts uneasily, unsure how to even answer that.

“Something might have followed you,” Molly says, looking up at him.

The words stun Fjord, shake something deep inside him, stirring a fear he’d been trying to ignore since he had woken up on the beach as the sole survivor of the shipwreck.

Fjord shakes his head. “N-nothing like this. I - I’ve never seen anything like this eye before. Only in that - that dream, where Vandran was holding it, pushing it into his chest - but, this is smaller.” He gives the falchion a small shake, punctuating his point. “This sword just seems to take in - take in things.”

Molly seems hesitant to accept that explanation. His expression turns sheepish. “You’re going to forgive me for this later.”

There’s a tug at the back of Fjord’s mind, like a string being pulled that would unravel a whole tapestry, but Fjord shakes the feeling off, raising an eyebrow at Molly.

With a sigh, Molly says, “There’s something in you that you either don’t want to talk about or don’t remember properly, I think.”

“Well, you could’ve just asked,” Fjord deadpans.

“No,” Molly shakes his head, “I don’t think I could’ve.”

“If anything,” Fjord sighs, “it’s the latter.”

“I know,” Molly nods, eyes still on Fjord.

“There’s not a lot I remember about being in the ocean,” Fjord tells him, his eyes dropping to the eye on the pommel of his falchion.

“Which is why I didn’t ask,” Molly says matter-of-factly.

“Right,” Fjord gets out.

“I trust that you - you’ll tell me everything you know, but I’m not sure you even know everything you know,” Molly adds, sitting back on his bed.

“Maybe,” Fjord relents, because it was true. “But that’s why I asked you to stay in the room.” (And not Caleb.) “I’m not entirely sure I trust this thing.”

Molly looks at the falchion with narrowed eyes. “I don’t think it matters where the sword is at all.”

Fjord frowns, not having thought of that. “Maybe…” Fjord focuses on the eye, holding the pommel in both hands, and taking a deep breath as an idea pops into his head. It was worth a shot, and he was going to take it.

He closes his eyes, taking another deep breath and focusing and concentrating hard on the falchion. He mimics what he’s seen Caleb do when he figures out magical properties items have, and he focused on the falchion with everything he has. He feels a similar thread like the one earlier when Molly tried to cast a spell on him - but this was all around him, like someone was watching him, watching him from beyond what he could see. It was unnerving, setting his heart pounding in his chest.

His eyes fly open, finding Molly watching him intently.

“Perhaps, I think - may I?” Molly offers, reaching out to Fjord with an outstretched hand.

“Don’t take any offense,” Fjord says slowly, “But no.” And he makes it disappear.

Molly watches the space where it had been, watches Fjord’s hands where now they hold nothing. “Something from the deep is in that. I don’t know,” he brings a hand to his forehead as he squints. “It reminds me of something.”

“Yeah, me too.” They stare at nothing in silence for a few beats. “I’m just not sure what.” Fjord shakes himself out of his thoughts. “Please, I - I only confided in you because I feel like the strange is sorta your, y’know, ballpark.”

“I’ll keep an eye,” Molly promises, the tension draining out of him. “And, no matter what, keeping each other safe, it’s what we do. It’s what you do when you’re - you’ve got a group of people.”

“Agreed,” Fjord quietly nods.

“We’ll keep you safe,” Molly reiterates, and the way he says it reassures Fjord that he’s not just talking about keeping Fjord safe from the sword, but of keeping everyone else safe from it too.

(Including Caleb.)

“‘Appreciate it, Molly,” Fjord says honestly. They dissolve into silence after that as Fjord finally heads to bed, leaving Molly to pray over his scimitars, and wondering if maybe he should have had Caleb here too, to make him return the promise that Fjord had made to him about keeping him safe.

* * *

The next morning comes around sluggish and humid, a constant in the swamp it seems. They decide to split up, with Fjord and Yasha volunteering to go get their cart while the rest of the group goes to the apothecary to wrap up the deal that Jester and Molly had struck the night before.

They walk out of the Drowned Nest together, and at the last minute Caleb changes his mind. “I want to go for a walk on the edge of town for something,” he explains.

Beau claps Caleb on the shoulder lightly. “Hey, will you take Kiri with you?”

“Yeah, of course,” Caleb agrees easily.

“Alright,” Beau nods.

She ushers Kiri to his side right as Jester tells him, “Don’t let her get into trouble.”

“You-you want me to come as well?” Nott asks, looking up at Caleb.

Caleb gives her a quick nod, no hesitation in his words as he repeats, “Yeah, of course.”

“Okay, I’ll come,” Nott smiles, getting onto Kiri’s other side. “Get a lot of healing potions,” she reminds Jester as they slowly start to break apart from the group.

“I’m going to!” Jester promises.

Nott gives her a confident nod as Molly waves them away, saying, “Meet us at the apothecary.”

Fjord watches as they leave, watches Caleb take Kiri’s hand to keep her close. She looks up at him, chirping up in the clearest imitation of Jester, “ _ Get into trouble. _ ”

“No, we - we are not going to get into trouble,” Caleb corrects her, shaking his head.

“ _ Get into trouble _ ,” she happily repeats.

“ _ Nein _ ,” Caleb says in Zemnian, shaking his head again.

(The sight is adorable, and Fjord almost asks Yasha if she’d be okay with getting the cart on her own just so he can catch up to Caleb’s group.)

Kiri coos at Caleb softly, tilting her head.

“ _ Nein _ ,” Caleb repeats, although less firm than before. “Be good. We’re just going on a stroll,  _ ja _ ? We’re not going to kill anything, you’re not going to -” he mimes stabbing something, “y’know? Just taking a walk.”

“ _ You know _ ,” Kiri answers, throwing Caleb’s voice back at him. Then she follows it up as Jester with a cheery, “ _ Okay. _ ”

Caleb smiles down at her, warm and fond in a way that he doesn’t show very often.

(Fjord could melt.)

“You are pretty cute,” Caleb tells Kiri. He tugs on her hand as Nott takes her other hand, leading them towards the edge of town. “Come on.”

They walk away, their voices now out of earshot, leaving the rest of the group to head to their own destinations.

(And leaving Fjord with a smile as he thinks of the soft smile that was on Caleb’s face.)

* * *

It doesn’t take long for them to regroup and then set out towards Shadycreek Run, making their way to Hupperdook to cut through the city on their way. The road is quiet and their travel uneventful, until three days later they come across a crossroads market.

Suspicious at first, Caleb decides to investigate with Frumpkin, narrating everything he sees to the group. He tells them about the exotic fruits and the clothes and jewelry vendors and describes the tents and people there as their cart continues rolling along the road, coming to a stop as they reach the market.

Caleb was still going on about what he was seeing until he catches sight of the cart, and himself sitting in it with no one else around, and he blinks, suddenly back in his body, in the empty cart at the edge of the market.

He let’s out a huff, climbing down and making his way into the market to find the others - which doesn’t take long at all. He finds Fjord sitting outside the jewelry stall, looking restless and tired as he traces swirls into the ground with a stick.

“You look bored out of your mind,” Caleb says, coming to stand beside him.

“Yeah, I’m not much of a shopper,” he shrugs, then he looks up, seeing that it’s Caleb, and his bored expression shifts to a warm smile.

“Same, same - me either. Me either,” Caleb repeats, glancing around at the stalls, this time through his eyes. “Uh, so far, so good though, right?” he adds, looking back at Fjord.

“Yeah,” Fjord agrees, getting up. “I mean it's kind of been without, uh, incident.” He rubs at the back of his neck. “Which is what we want.”

“I just mean the lot of it,” Caleb carefully clarifies. “We’ve been together for weeks now.” He’s not sure why he’s pointing that out, but it's important to him, to find out how Fjord feels about it.

( _ To find out if he’s liked it just as much as Caleb has _ .)

“Oh,” Fjord nods, looking up for a second as if doing the math. “Yeah.” He’s still smiling when his eyes drop to Caleb’s though, and some of the tension in Caleb’s shoulders melts.

“There’s been some friction,” Caleb says, trying to skirt around what that “friction” is, “but, uh, we’re still here.”

“Yeah,” Fjord nods. “Nothing we can’t, you know, overcome. Everything’s got it's little bumps and growing pains, and I think we’ve had ours.” He averts his gaze from Caleb’s for a beat, before he meets his eyes once more, “You and Beau seemed to make up nice.”

“Oh, hell, that was nothing compared to when you, ah, held a blade to my throat,” Caleb shrugs, unaffected and not noticing the way Fjord flinches at his words, shame rising in his face as he flushes. “But we’re making it work.”

( _ He thinks of when they had a similar conversation, when they had first agreed to stick together. “Let’s make it work,” he’d said. _ )

( _ “We’ll make it work,” Fjord had answered, honestly, openly - confident in a way Caleb admired _ .)

Fjord swallows hard, taking a quick breath as he nods again. “Indeed we are.”

( _ Caleb now feels the awkwardness that is settling around them, but this wasn’t what the conversation was meant to be, he just wanted to talk to Fjord, wanted to find out if he was glad that they were all sticking around the way he was. _ )

_ (But a part of Caleb knows that Fjord was thinking about their conversation from before, he can feel it in the way Fjord looks at him _ .)

“You’re a good guy, I think,” Caleb blurts out.

The anxiety that had started to crush in on Fjord melted at Caleb’s words. “Yeah,” Fjord smiles, “I think so too.”

( _ And that smile is so warm and tender, and it stirs something inside Caleb. It stokes the flames that burn within, not making them roar and rage, but nurturing them, feeding them with affection and fondness rather than pain. It’s a new way to be lit up, and Caleb can’t get enough of the feeling, can’t get enough of his smile. _ )

Caleb leans in, a smile of his own tugging on his lips, when suddenly Nott rushes up to them, tugging on his sleeve. “Caleb! Caleb! They have rambutan, they have lychee, they have jackfruit, they have all sorts of different fruits!”

“What did you just say?” Fjord asks, thrown by the rush of words that just tumbled out of Nott’s mouth.

“They have all kinds!” Nott repeats excitedly.

Fjord shakes his head, confused. “What’s a lychee?”

“It’s a - it’s like a white little -” Nott pinches her fingers together to show how small it is. “It’s got a big seed, it’s white, it’s sort of citrus-y, it’s really good. You can put it in liquor!”

Caleb raises a hand to slow her down. “I am from the north - we have  _ Brot _ , tomatoes, and - and, and cheese, and that’s it.”

“They may have tomatillo, I don’t know,” Nott shrugs.

Now Caleb looks just as confused as Fjord. “What?”

“It’s really exotic stuff,” Nott gushes.

“Well, you teach me,” Caleb tells her, letting her lead him to the fruit stall. “Good talk,” he says to Fjord, putting a hand to his shoulder, intending to pat his arm but instead letting his hand linger there before he gets pulled away by Nott.

Fjord watches them, giving Caleb a small wave as he turns towards Nott. “Okay, show me what you’re talking about,” he hears Caleb say, catching Nott’s cheerful, “Come, come!”

(His stomach is in knots, his heart aflutter, and while he still feels ashamed again from how he handled things at the High Richter’s place, he can’t help but feel elated.)

(Caleb thinks he’s a good guy - despite it all, he sees the good in Fjord.)

(Now all Fjord has to do is prove him right, and Fjord will gladly prove himself for Caleb.)

**Author's Note:**

> uuuughhhhh when Caleb was just like "are you interested in him" my heart was like bruh and then when he was walking away with Kiri that shit was the cutest I just needed to write it and to write their little throw back about making it work omfg I caaaan't
> 
> And honestly poor Fjord with all the shit he has to deal with that he doesn't understand like fuck man that shit blows (but just trust your man's dude like c'mon Caleb is right there to support you)
> 
> Anyway, thank you all so much for reading! I really hope you guys liked it and that you guys are liking this series as a whole! Comments and kudos are loved and appreciated, so if you have a chance, drop some love!
> 
> This fic was inspired by the scenes:  
> Have Bird, Will Travel | Critical Role | Campaign 2, Episode 23 - 1:34:40, 2:13:57, and 2:24:59


End file.
